CHAPTER 22
Q'ara Xai watched with concern when she saw the Prince being carried by his Loyal Guards to the Eastern Chute of the Tetrahedral Palace. With her large golden eyes, she studied the possibilities of what she saw. Theba also felt the same. It was a difficult thought to see what happened to Emmer. It is impossible for Emperor Egher not to know. Was it the Memories?
Q'Ara Ia approached Theba with the concern of a real mother would. The Prince is her future partner, as she is the future Empress. Theba felt a small amount of anxiety as well but managed to immediately take control of the thought. She had to, as any Mekholi women are expected to. Empress Q'Ara Ia took Theba's clasped hands, and felt the coldness of her hands. She didn't say a word but led Theba to one of the thousands of chairs. Q'Ara Ia then signaled the Palace Assistants to inform the delegates of the situation. No words uttered, only hand signals and mental messages and nearly everyone had the knowledge of the situation at hand. Powerful minds order the weaker minds to follow. The assistant creatures did as they're told.
***
Zebedee is now in the Apex, a privilege no ancient humans will ever experience.
With nearly all the big guards surrounding the Prince, protective of the one and only heir of the throne, Zebedee felt so small with these huge creatures, majestic but frightening creatures. Appearing like giant free-standing Minotaurs of Old and Centaurs as well, the most majestic bull of all of them appeared troubled as he carried the prince so easily, like a child. And the Prince is not small too. Standing more than 2 and half meters tall, the Prince is a giant in earthly terms, a gentle one and a very articulate one as well.
He was carried directly to the hallway, and Zebedee was given a floater so he can keep up with the guards.
There are lots of questions in Zebedee's mind. Why was he carried to the Office of the Emperor? Why is the Emperor not in the Grand Assembly at this time?
The dignitaries at the bottom of the huge castle didn't seem affected at an event happening here, involving the highest personalities of this Galactic Empire. An Empire that he has no idea what to make out of it. An impossibly huge Castle in a planet thoroughly artificial.
As Zebedee followed them, there was this familiar feeling on not entering in the door where everyone entered. He stopped and the Guards didn't seem to mind him stopping. Suddenly, as everyone entered the Office of the Emperor, Zebe felt alone outside the door going into the room. The inside looks blurred and its utterly silent inside. The floater he's on stopped for him to get-off.
Zebedee decided to take a seat after disembarking the floater. The chairs around are, of all things were designed for these huge creatures also but there's one chair that looks completely designed for him, or did it shrink somehow? He sat on it, feeling comfortable, as if the chair itself adjusted to his size.
Anyway, Zebedee sat and looked around the Hall. He could imagine the hall around the Main Room. Again, this hall is another superlative to him. Its like a highway. It feels like the walls are skyscraper-sized walls, nearly closing at the horizon from where he looks at all directions. It's probably impossible to look around by just walking.
The walls are spartan, and has fish-scale like designs that look silver-metal and slightly shiny. That goes on and at times highlighted by square tiled golden tiles. They love gold here, Zebedee thought.
The floor is more like brass-colored and appears hard. This one has scaly designs also but different from the walls. One can definitely walk on this shiny floor since it wasn't smoothly designed. Again, nothing around. No flower pots nor plants, not even picture frames nor decorated Ming-type jars or statues, even small ones. Heck, no shelves at all to put them at all. It's like a silver wall with some gold highlights.
The floater then approached him, which seems like it has a mind of its own, so Zebedee stepped on and it moved with him until it reached a corner. Upon turning the corner, to his utter amazement, everything that he thought about as not on the walls now fill the corner. Potted plants and flowers, statues, vases, even small fountains as far as the eyes can see. Impossibly high shelves with books, and as the floated turned to go back where he was, the walls now have picture frames and other colors. The walls played a trick on him. Now he can't even say there's nothing there.
But as he sat, even distant music played, music from his generation. Apparently, the walls were reading his mind as he sat there once more.
In what may feel like an eternity (an hour maybe since there are no clocks here), and the way people do things here are so slow that his mind feels everything is so slow. Even the assembly feels like its been going on for days but the delegates don't seem to mind. They have extreme automation but the life outside of the automated rooms is so rustic. The Castle's doors are mere holes where one can get in and out with no one asking for anything or stopping yet it can stop you from entering once the room is labeled 'sealed.' Even if one tries to really violate, there seems to be no way to override the fear of entering sealed. In one instance, I even tried throwing objects through a hole-door but my hands couldn't even move if my intent was to pass through the sealed door. It's like everything is controlled by a certain "mind" that pervades everything, even if there's no obvious machine anywhere, until I realized that the entire planet is artificial.
At last, I was allowed to enter the door. The blurry hole became clear and sound started emanating from that door, and the walls returned to their original spartan appearance.
The floated approached him again and he stepped on it and it floated towards the door.
After entering the door, a huge room (looks more like a gigantic gym with the people so distant they're so small. But the ceiling is definitely four-sided-pyramidal. It closes on a huge, soft light that makes everything inside seem to radiate with that faint white glow. The floater kept moving until it reached the center. The guards are now several meters away from a bed where an old-looking man, the Emperor himself, stands beside a sleeping Prince. This is his first face-to-face with the Emperor. Again, a huge head on a large body, like in his first observation of the Prince, like a ten-year old boy in proportion only on a much larger scale. He is about as tall as Prince, more than 2-meters, with fair, almost white complexion, white skin with large eyes. He looks rather unfit, with his yellow or gold (what's with this color to them?) toga, a white beard and a rather long mustache. He doesn't possess based on his posture, the athleticism and wide-eyed expression of the Prince. Yet he isn't thin either, just right. He has that almost expressionless face, not sad nor happy at all. He doesn't seem to show a bit of worry nor care. Its more like a business meeting with someone.
That made Zebedee uneasy once more, as that expression is all around him.
***
Lady Q'ara's felt that there is something not right within the confines of the Tetrahedral Palace - something that Egher knew but never revealed to her. The delegates have all left, with no fanfare and the two Ladies of the Royal Palace were there communicating without spoken word, not even a hand sign. Its more like face communication, the darting of eyes, the movement of their brows, a twitch of nose, mouth and pointing of chin. All invisible to any Aleggons or Lexais who happen to pass by asking for assistance or something to do. Its quiet between them yet the distant noise of thousands of delegates leaving for the islands of Xavenon, for a leisurely trip for the Planet stand in dark contrast. Q'ara and Theba then went to the chute where the Prince was carried, holding each hand yet not showing any sign of emotion.
***
The vehicle they are all in have two Star Sailors as their pilots and accompanied by two more Guardians. The Guardians are enough to give all of the guests' security.
Since the planet is made up of square islands with pyramidal mountains as backgrounds, what made the tourism of the Xavenon are its native or artificially made species of plants and animals, water-based, air-based and land-based and of various sizes (generally simple geometric shapes and not complex or convoluted enough). Far from being random, this planet was made so that anyone who visits will know that everything about it is really created by the Xai Dynasty.
***
The Prince woke up and sat on the bed he was in.
"You were in a trance," the Emperor told him. "There are instances in which your mind gets lost in the Memories, thinking the Memories are actually happening. It could also be you are reliving a past and reacting to it."
"But why does it appear I am reliving a future? It's more like a vision, my father" Emmer asked. "I thought I was someone else, I am myself and I have a son, named Khavuss. Or do we have past ancestors named as such?"
The Emperor looked at Emmer, "We don't have such as yet. The Memories also trigger an innate capability within our species, Emmer. The ability to process the present and the past and project them as future visions within our minds. Not all of our ancestors have such abilities. It seems you have one."
Q'ara and Theba entered the room, walking brisk that even Zebedee is surprised at their long and quick strides which apparently their long thin legs don't seem to have. Theba appeared to display a semblance of care, which, to Zebedee's eyes, completely absent from the Emperor. Everyone looked at the direction of the Royal Ladies.
"We felt stressed at the thought of you being carried here by the Guardians, which is something we haven't seen before."
"I am sorry mother and Theba, for the inconvenience of what happened to me," the Prince said.